Method and System for Logging Vehicle Behaviour

ABSTRACT

A mobile telecommunications device configured to log driving information associated with a vehicle is described. The mobile telecommunications device comprises: a sensor set comprising at least one of an image sensor, an audio sensor, an accelerometer and a positioning module, or a combination thereof; a processor; and a memory; the mobile telecommunications device being configured to: determine, based at least in part on sensor data from the device&#39;s sensor set, a start of a driving period during which the mobile device is present in the vehicle and the vehicle is in use, process the sensor data from the sensor set during the driving period to derive driving information associated with how the vehicle is driven, mobile telecommunications device being configured to process the sensor data automatically, using a neural network provided in the mobile device, to determine whether the driving information represents an acceptable or unacceptable driving pattern; and store at least some of the driving information to the memory.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/222,893 filed Dec. 17, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/454,944 filed Mar. 9, 2017, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/061,910 filed Mar.4, 2016 and now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,633,487, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/994,455 filed Jul.24, 2013 and now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,311,271, which is a 371 ofinternational patent application PCT/GB2011/052491 filed Dec. 15, 2011,which claims foreign priority to GB patent application no. 1118777.0filed Oct. 31, 2011, GB patent application no. 1109759.9 filed Jun. 10,2011, GB patent application no. 1101259.8 filed Jan. 25, 2011, and GBpatent application no. 1021292.6 filed Dec. 15, 2010, the contents ofwhich are incorporated in their entirety as if fully presented herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to methods and systems for logging drivinginformation associated with vehicle behaviour. Moreover, the presentinvention relates to a mobile device adapted for installation to avehicle and configured to log such driving information, for example,video footage associated with how the vehicle is driven. Such drivinginformation may subsequently be utilised to determine the cause of anevent such as an accident, to modify driver behaviour and/or todetermine insurance premiums.

BACKGROUND

Data logging devices are commonly installed on aircraft that log dataabout events associated with the behaviour of the aircraft and also thecrew controlling the aircraft. Such data logging devices are commonlytermed “black boxes” and are very useful for determining the cause ofproblems that have affected the aircraft, especially when no otherrecord of a significant event such as a crash exists.

Similar data logging devices exist for road vehicles, and can be used torealise similar advantages. Vehicle users as well as authorities can usesuch devices to determine the cause of traffic accidents or othervehicle-related events, whether these stem from vehicle malfunction ordriver negligence. For example, the data logged by these devices can beused as evidence for insurance claims and so potentially to determineinsurance premiums.

Some of these data logging devices can be integrated with the car datanetwork, and so may take inputs from sensors integrated with thevehicle, such as those measuring the speed of the vehicle. However,these can be difficult and costly to install. Others having their owninternal sensor set are more readily retrofitted to a vehicle.Nonetheless, such data logging devices for road vehicles are lessprevalent perhaps due to their unjustifiable expense. Accordingly theuptake of data logging devices that can be retrofitted to road vehicles,as are known in the art, has been minimal.

It is an object of the present invention to alleviate theabove-mentioned problems, at least in part.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided amobile telecommunications device configured to log driving informationassociated with a vehicle is described. The mobile telecommunicationsdevice comprises: a sensor set comprising an image sensor and at leastone of an audio sensor, an accelerometer or a positioning module, or acombination thereof; a user interface; a processor; and a memory. Themobile telecommunications device is configured to: determine, based onthe inputs received by the user interface and sensor data from thedevice's sensor set, a start of a driving period during which the mobiledevice is removably affixed to the vehicle and the vehicle is in use,wherein the start of the driving period is determined without data fromsensors of the vehicle; process the sensor data from the sensor setduring the driving period to derive driving information associated withhow the vehicle is driven; and store a selection of the drivinginformation to the memory. The driving information comprises imagescaptured by the image sensor and the mobile telecommunications device iscontrolled by a downloaded application to process the captured images tomake a safety determination for the vehicle and in response to making anunsafe determination for the vehicle, to issue an alert signal.

Advantageously, the use of a mobile telecommunication device enables adata logging device to be conveniently and inexpensively retrofitted toa vehicle. Mobile telecommunication devices such as “smart-phones” arebecoming increasingly widespread, and these devices tend to have therequisite sensor sets to capture data concerning vehicle behaviour.Thus, a generic mobile telecommunication device already owned by adriver of the vehicle can be loaded with the application to provide suchdata logging functionality that would otherwise necessitate a dedicatedblack-box. Thus, the functionality of a black-box can be realisedwithout additional expense.

Following on from this, it will be appreciated that the mobile device isideally a portable mobile telecommunication device. Ideally, the mobiledevice is a hand-portable mobile device. Advantageously, the portabilitypermits the mobile device to be conveniently fitted to and removed fromthe vehicle.

Furthermore, such a mobile telecommunication device presents additionaladvantages over known dedicated black-box systems as the data loggingfunctionality of the mobile telecommunication device can be continuallyrefined. This can be achieved without physically upgrading the hardwareof the device, and also without significant user intervention.Specifically, the application may be arranged to determine whether asoftware update exists and if so, control the mobile device to downloadat least portions of an improved version of the application.Conveniently, downloading may be via the wireless telecommunicationmodule. Said downloading may be automatic, or may be user-confirmed. Forthe avoidance of doubt, the application will typically be stored on aportion of the memory of the mobile device and executed therefrom, as isknown in the art. Also, it will be appreciated that the application, orportion thereof, may be downloaded via the wireless telecommunicationmodule and/or via an intermediary device. For example the applicationmay be side-loaded to the mobile device from an intermediary computingdevice.

The application may be sourced from an application store and/or contentprovider. For example, the content provider may comprise the Apple®Appstore®. The content provider may comprise a cloud computing provider.

It will be appreciated that the use of such a generic mobile device inthis context may be counter-intuitive to a person skilled in theart—such generic devices are not designed to withstand events such ascatastrophic crashes. Furthermore, such generic devices are usually notnecessarily configured to appropriately detect conditions that may needto be recorded. Such devices are usually kept in a user's pocket or bag,and so are not best placed to generate sensor data associated with thebehaviour of a vehicle. However, the inventor of the present inventionhas realised that such a mobile device that is adapted for installationto the vehicle can overcome such drawbacks and fulfil a role similar toa black box. To this end, the mobile telecommunication device maycomprise an adapter arranged to hold the device securely to the vehicle.

Advantageously, as well as protecting the device from damage, theadapter improves the suitability and reliability of the sensor data andso the driving information associated with when and/or how the vehicleis being driven. For example, if the sensor set comprises anaccelerometer, the acceleration of the vehicle can be more accuratelymeasured due to the mobile device being firmly attached to the vehicle.Similarly, if the sensor set comprises an image sensor, for example, forcapturing video footage of the road ahead, better footage can beobtained as the mobile device can be held in the correct position andorientation relative to the vehicle. In particular, the mobile devicemay be positioned by the adapter so that its image sensor views the roadahead through a windshield of the vehicle.

As mentioned, the device is arranged to log driving informationassociated with the vehicle, when that vehicle is being driven. This isrealised by registering the start of the driving period during which themobile device is installed to the vehicle and the vehicle is beingdriven by the driver. Advantageously, this prevents driving informationfrom being needlessly recorded. As will be appreciated the mobile devicehas only a finite storage capacity and so registering the start of thedriving period is useful for minimising the unnecessary usage of memory.In particular, where the mobile device comprises an image sensor, andthe sensor data comprises a sequence of images (e.g. a video) thestorage space can be very quickly filled by the memory.

To this end, it is preferred that when the application is executed, itcontrols the mobile device to register the start of a driving period inresponse to an initialisation input. The initialisation input maycomprise a user input—for example, the user manually executing theapplication on the mobile device. The initialisation input is alsogenerated automatically in response to the mobile device being installedto the vehicle and/or the vehicle being driven. The initialisation inputmay be generated automatically in response to the sensor data havingpredetermined values. For example, if the sensor data reflects adetected speed above a predetermined threshold—for example, 20kilometres per hour—then this can be used to trigger the start of thedriving period. Similarly, if the sensor data reflects that the mobiledevice is held securely to the vehicle in a predetermined position (forexample, via the adapter) this can also be used to trigger the start ofthe driving period. To this end, the adapter and/or the mobile devicemay comprise a registration module configured to register theinstallation of the mobile device to the vehicle and/or the adapter. Theregistration module may comprise a proximity sensor to detect theproximity of the mobile device to the vehicle. The registration modulemay comprise a NFC (near field communication) device. The registrationmodule may be arranged to determine a match between the location of themobile device and the location of the vehicle. The match may beperformed by receiving and comparing a first positioning inputassociated with the position of the vehicle and a second positioninginput associated with the position of the mobile device. Theregistration module and/or adapter may be a smart holster.

Preferably, the executed application controls the mobile device tomanage voice-calls incoming to the mobile device during a drivingperiod. For example, said voice-call management may comprise temporarilydisabling and/or diverting voice-calls incoming to the mobile deviceduring a driving period. Advantageously, this safety feature discouragesusers from making or receiving phone calls whilst driving. It will beappreciated that a driver is less able to control a vehicle effectivelywhilst also manipulating a mobile device, and in many countries doing sois illegal. However, the provision of a ‘hands-free’ mode oraccessory—as are well known in the art—may obviate the need for a userto manipulate the mobile device. Accordingly, the executed applicationmay be arranged to control the mobile device to selectively disableand/or divert voice-calls incoming to the mobile device during a drivingperiod, in dependence on the detection of a hands-free accessory orhands-free mode enabled on the mobile device.

Furthermore, the executed application may be arranged to control themobile device to enable a hands-free mode of operation on detection of adriving period. For example, the enabled hands-free mode of operationmay comprise enabling voice-activated commands. In light of this, it ispreferred that the adapter is configured to hold the mobile device in away that facilitates reception of voice commands from the user. Inparticular, the mobile device may be held in a position relative to theuser to permit clear reception of the user's voice. Typically, thisposition is about the dashboard in a vehicle such as car or van.Furthermore, the adapter is configured with an opening through which anaudio sensor of the mobile device is able to receive the user's voice.

Also, even though a driver's control of a vehicle may be affected bymanipulating the mobile device, under certain circumstances, this maynot be objectionable—for example, when the vehicle is stationary.Accordingly, the executed application may be arranged to control themobile device to selectively disable and/or divert voice-calls incomingto the mobile device during a driving period, in dependence on thedriving information—for example, the speed and location of the vehicle.

Furthermore, it will be appreciated that the driver may not be the onlyuser within the vehicle, and so disabling functions of the mobile devicemay not be appropriate under all circumstances, as a passenger of thevehicle may want to use the mobile device whilst the driver is driving.Under these circumstances, the executed application is arranged tocontrol the mobile device to register the presence of a non-driver (forexample, via image recognition, or entry of an unlock code) and unlock,or retain the original functionality of the mobile device. Furthermore,the executed application may be arranged to run in the background.Accordingly, the mobile device may be used for other purposes, such asmaking or receiving a telephone call.

It is advantageous to store only selected driving information for thepurpose of logging how a vehicle is being driven during the drivingperiod. Whilst it may be possible to sample and process sensor data at arelatively high rate (i.e. many times a second), continually storingdriving information derived from that sensor data at such a high ratecan use up a lot of storage space on the mobile device, the majority ofwhich is likely to be redundant. Therefore, by being selective about thedriving information that is stored, storage utilisation can be made moreefficient.

In particular, the executed application may control the mobile device tostore a summary of the driving period. The summary may comprisecompressed and/or summarised driving information. For example, thesensor data can be processed at a first sampling rate and thendown-sampled to a fraction of the first sampling rate for storage asdriving information. Put another way, the mobile device can becontrolled by the executed application to down-sample sensor data from afirst sampling rate to a second sampling and store the sensor data asdriving information at said second sampling rate. Advantageously, thisretains a snapshot of when and/or how the vehicle is being driven, butwith fewer data points, and so requiring less storage space.

Nonetheless, under certain circumstances, it is more useful to retaininformation at higher or the highest possible sampling rates. Inparticular, it is more important to have detailed information associatedwith the behaviour of a vehicle during a crash than when the vehicle isbeing driven normally.

Accordingly, the executed application may be arranged to control themobile device to detect the occurrence of a predetermined event ofsignificance (such as a crash) and in response store driving informationassociated with that event to the memory. Preferably, said drivinginformation associated with that event comprises driving information inthe lead up to and immediately following the event. In particular,detailed driving information in the lead up to, and immediatelyfollowing a predetermined event of significance is preferably stored. Itwill be understood that the driving information associated with thedetected event may be transmitted via the wireless telecommunicationmodule in addition to, or instead of storing said data. Said transmitteddriving information may be transmitted to a remote data logging system.

To this end the mobile device may comprise an event detector fordetecting the occurrence of an event.

Preferably, the event detector is arranged to detect the occurrence of apredetermined event by correlating data, such as sensor data, against anevent indication model. The application may comprise the eventindication model.

Preferably, the event indication model comprises a set of predetermineddata values corresponding to a predetermined event. Accordingly, theevent detector is arranged to compare the set of predetermined datavalues against corresponding sensor data to determine whether thepredetermined event has occurred.

For example, the event indication model may indicate that a seriouscrash has occurred if values returned by an accelerometer sensor exceedpredetermined data values of the event indication model, therebyrepresenting a sustained vehicle deceleration beyond a threshold level.Following on from this, it will be appreciated that detection of anevent may be dependent on matching a sequence of data values that haveoccurred over time. Moreover, the event indication model may comprise asequence of predetermined data values, the sequence being associated bya function of time. Thus, the event detector may be arranged to comparethe sequence of predetermined data values against corresponding sensordata that have been generated over a given time period. Put another way,the event detector and event indication model are arranged to indicatethe occurrence of an event in dependence on the correlation between aset of predetermined data values occurring over time. Thus, a set ofvalues returned from sensor data over a period of time are comparedagainst a corresponding sequence of predetermined data values of theevent indication model. Typically, this is to determine a rate of changeof variables associated with a sensor set.

It will be understood that an event indication model may comprise aplurality of sets of predetermined data values, each set correspondingto different sensor data. For example, an event indication modelassociated with a serious accident event may contain data valuescorresponding to both the deceleration of the vehicle, and theorientation of the vehicle. Thus, if a vehicle is involved in a seriousimpact, and overturns, this is represented by the model, and so can bedetected by the event detector.

Preferably, the event indication model comprises a pattern ofpredetermined data values. Preferably, the event detector is arranged todetect the occurrence of an event by carrying out pattern recognition bymatching sensor data values to the pattern of predetermined data valuesof the event indication model. Preferably, there is a plurality of eventindication models. Each event indication model may be associated with aseparate predetermined event.

Preferably, the executed application may be arranged to control themobile device to process sensor data from the sensor set during aplurality of driving periods to derive driving information associatedwith when and/or how the vehicle is driven for each of the drivingperiods. Preferably, sensor data processed during a first set of drivingperiods define a benchmark against which sensor data is compared duringsubsequent sets of driving periods. In particular, the executedapplication may be arranged to control the mobile to modify one or moreevent indication models in response to the benchmark. Advantageously,such a benchmark ensures that the event indication models may betailored to the standard behaviour of a particular vehicle. As will beappreciated, different sensor types, mobile devices, mounting positions,vehicles, drivers and road conditions may generate different sets ofsensor data for driving behaviour that is considered standard or safe.Accordingly, the benchmark allows the mobile device to account forvariable driving conditions.

Preferably, a plurality of benchmarks may be defined. A benchmark may bedefined for each driver. A benchmark may be defined for each vehicle towhich the mobile device is to be installed. Ideally, a benchmark isdefined for each driver-vehicle pair. To this end, the mobile device maybe arranged to receive an input to specify a driver, a vehicle or adriver-vehicle pair. Advantageously, this ensures that different driversand vehicles do not disrupt the accurate event detecting capabilities ofthe event detector.

Once a predetermined event has been detected by the event detector, itis desirable to take an appropriate action in response to that detectedevent. Accordingly, the executed application may be arranged to controlthe mobile device to take at least one predetermined action in responseto a detected event. The action taken may comprise transmitting drivinginformation and/or sensor data, via the wireless telecommunicationmodule of the mobile device, to a remote system. Advantageously, thisenables a remote system to be notified of the occurrence of a particularevent, and the details associated with that event. For example, theremote system may be arranged to deploy emergency services based on atransmitted notification concerning the occurrence of a crash, and alsothe location of the mobile device (and so the vehicle) are also includedin the transmitted information. A further advantage of transmittingdriving information and/or sensor data to a remote system is that suchdata then does not need to be stored on or processed by the mobiledevice. Thus, this can free the storage space on the mobile device, andalso allow the processor of the mobile device to carry out other tasks.A remote system may comprise or be interfaced with an insurance companydatabase.

A further advantage associated with sending driving information to aremote system is that the driving information can be assessed remotely.This assessment can be performed automatically or manually—either way itadvantageously removes the processing burden from the mobile device.Alternatively, if transmission bandwidths are small, the processing canbe executed automatically on the processing device. In this case, theuse of virtual neural networks can be used to determine whether thedriving information represents acceptable or unacceptable drivingpatterns.

The action taken may comprise storing data captured at a higher (or thehighest possible) sampling rate than when an event is not detected.Thus, as described above, this may involve preventing the down-samplingof sensor data. Furthermore, the action taken may comprise protectingsaid driving information from being overwritten.

The action taken may comprise providing feedback to a user to indicatethat an event has been detected. Preferably, the mobile device isconfigured to receive a user interaction to confirm or deny whether thedetected event has actually occurred following said feedback.Advantageously, such user feedback can be used to modify eventindication models thereby to refine the effectiveness of the eventdetector. The mobile device may comprise a speaker. Accordingly, suchfeedback may be provided via an audio prompt. The mobile device maycomprise a display screen. Accordingly, such feedback may be providedvia a visual prompt. The feedback may comprise notifying a user that afurther action has been scheduled, and will be taken within apredetermined period. For example, the feedback may indicate to a userthat an event such as a serious crash has been detected, and so the nextaction to be taken will be to contact emergency services within 10seconds. Preferably, the feedback includes a prompt to receive a userinput. For example, the prompt may be arranged to receive a user inputto cancel a subsequently scheduled action. Advantageously, this preventsactions being taken needlessly as a result of an incorrect determinationof an event.

The feedback may provide reassurance and/or guidance to a user. Forexample, a user may be provided with an important checklist of things todo following an accident or incident. For example, the user may beguided to use a camera (image sensor) on the mobile device to takephotographs of the vehicles involved in the incident, including thenumber plates of those vehicles. The user may be guided to use a textinput device on the mobile device to note the name, address, insurancedetails etc of third parties involved in incident.

The action taken may comprise communicating to a remote systemassociated with an insurance company that an incident has been detected(e.g. via a low bandwidth data connection or via text message). Ifappropriate—or in response to a request from a communication to themobile device from the remote system—the action taken may comprisetransmitting all or selected portions of the driving informationassociated with the detected event.

Preferably, the executed application is arranged to control the mobiledevice to prioritise essential communications, such as calls to theemergency services.

Preferably, the memory comprises a long term memory for persistentlystoring driving information and/or sensor data. Preferably the memorycomprises a buffer. The buffer may comprise a short term memory fortransiently storing driving information and/or sensor data. Preferably,the short term memory is arranged to receive driving information and/orsensor data at a higher update rate than the long term memory.Preferably, the long term memory has a larger capacity than the shortterm memory.

Preferably, the executed application controls the mobile device to writedriving information and/or sensor data to the short term memory at apredetermined update rate during the driving period. Ideally, thedriving information and/or sensor data is written to the short termmemory in a predetermined sequence, ideally a chronological sequence.Preferably, the executed application controls the mobile device tooverwrite driving information and/or sensor data previously written tothe short term memory. Advantageously, this ensures that recording ofsensor data and/or driving information, especially data that is recordedat a relatively high update rate, is not prevented during the drivingperiod due to the short term memory becoming full.

Preferably, the driving information and/or sensor data is overwritten inaccordance with the predetermined sequence. Advantageously, this canensure that the most relevant, up-to-date data is retained in the shortterm memory.

Preferably, the action taken in response to a detected event comprisestransferring data from the short term memory to the long term memory.Advantageously, this can ensure that the most recent informationassociated with an event is persistently stored in the long term memory,and is not overwritten.

Preferably, the sensor set comprises an accelerometer for detecting theacceleration of the mobile device. Accordingly, the corresponding sensordata may comprise acceleration data generated by the accelerometer. Theaccelerometer may be a single axis or dual axis accelerometer. However,it is preferable that the accelerometer is a three-axis accelerometer sothat movement of the vehicle may be determined in three-dimensionalspace. Furthermore, as the mobile device may be mounted by a user in oneof a number of different orientations relative to the vehicle, athree-axis accelerometer ensures that acceleration along the axisaligned with the general forward movement of the vehicle may beeffectively detected. This is particularly important to determine anevent such as heavy braking of the vehicle and/or a crash.

Preferably, the sensor set comprises an image sensor such as a camera.Accordingly, the corresponding sensor data may comprise images and/or asequence of images generated from the image sensor. Said sequence ofimages may be processed and/or stored in the form of a video.Advantageously, this can improve the space utilisation of the sequenceof images. Preferably, the mobile device is arranged to receive a userinput to store a user-selected image or sequence of images to thememory. The image sensor data may be processed to determine safetyinformation and feedback said safety information to the driver. Forexample, the mobile device may be controlled to determine the proximityof the mobile device to other vehicles. Said determination may be viacomparing the apparent size of the number plate of other vehicles in animage with a known size of a standard number-plate, and from that thedistance to those other vehicles. Thus, the mobile device can make adetermination that another vehicle is too close, and issue a warning tothe driver to slow down to avoid a collision. Similarly, images of theroad ahead may be processed to determine whether a vehicle is driftingout of lane (e.g. because the driver is falling asleep). In response tosuch a determination, an alert can be issued. Similarly, images of roadsigns may be processed to assess driver behaviour.

It will be appreciated that the mobile device may comprise a pluralityof image sensors. For example, the mobile device may have aforward-facing camera and a rear-facing camera. Accordingly, it may bepossible to view images of the road ahead, external to the vehicle, andalso from inside the vehicle. In particular, the mobile device may bearranged to capture images or a sequence of images of the driver. Imagesof the driver according to the present aspect of the present inventionprocessed to make a safety determination. For example, the images may beprocessed to detect whether the driver is falling asleep. In particular,a blink rate of the driver may be detected by processing the image data.Similarly, a determination may be made whether the driver has their eyesclosed. In response to such a determination that a driver is fallingasleep, the mobile device may be arranged to issue an alert so as towake the driver.

Preferably, the sensor set comprises an audio sensor such as amicrophone. Accordingly, the corresponding sensor data may compriseaudio data.

Advantageously, an image sensor and/or an audio sensor can provide animportant record of an event such as a crash.

Preferably, the sensor set comprises a positioning module arranged todetermine the position of the mobile device. The positioning module maycomprise a GPS module. The positioning module may be arranged to utilisethe wireless telecommunication module to self-localise, for example bydetermining a position relative to one or more mobile telecommunicationcell towers. Advantageously, the positioning module can allow the mobiledevice to determine its position (and so the position of the vehicle)over time. Accordingly, the positioning module can thus determine thespeed of the mobile device and vehicle. Thus, the corresponding sensordata may comprise latitude, longitude, elevation, speed and other dataobtainable from positioning modules such as GPS modules as is known inthe art.

Preferably, the sensor set comprises an orientation sensor fordetermining the orientation of the mobile device. Said orientationsensor may comprise an electronic compass for determining a bearing, andso the direction in which the mobile device is facing. Accordingly, thecorresponding sensor data may comprise orientation and bearing data.Advantageously, such data can be used to augment the data of thepositioning module. Furthermore, the executed application may bearranged to use the data from the orientation sensor to determinewhether the mobile device has been fitted to vehicle, and whether themobile device has been fitted in the correct orientation.Advantageously, the data from the orientation sensor may also be used todetermine whether a significant event has occurred, such as the vehicleoverturning.

Preferably, the sensor set comprises a user-input device arranged toreceive an input from a user. The user input device may comprise atleast one of buttons and a touch-sensitive display screen.Advantageously, this allows a user to input data to the mobile device.

Preferably, the mobile device comprises a timer. Preferably, theexecuted application is arranged to control the mobile device to recordsensor data and/or driving information against time as determined by thetimer. Accordingly, the timer can be used to time-synchronise sensordata and/or driving information.

Preferably, the executed application is arranged to encrypt the drivinginformation stored on the memory. Advantageously, this reduces thepossibility of said driving information being modified withoutauthorisation. This is an important consideration when such driving datamay be used as evidence, for example, when determining the cause of anaccident.

Preferably, the mobile device is arranged to interface with an externaldevice to receive external driving information from said externaldevice. It will be appreciated that the sensor set onboard the mobiledevice may be supplemented by a sensor set external to the mobiledevice. For example, the external device may be an engine managementsystem of the vehicle and/or the external device may be arranged toconnect to the on-car data network of the vehicle. Thus, the externaldevice may have access to information associated with the behaviour ofthe vehicle (for example, the speed of the vehicle, how much the brakepedal is being pressed, etc). Such driving information can be processedand/or stored by the mobile device under control of the executedapplication in a manner similar to driving information derived fromsensor data internal to the mobile device.

Preferably, the mobile device is arranged to interface with an externaldevice wirelessly, for example via a Bluetooth® connection.Advantageously, this removes the need for the mobile device to bephysically connected to the external device. As will be appreciated,following a driving period, a user may want to leave the vehicle and sotake a personal mobile telecommunication device with them, and so awireless interface with such an external device obviates theinconvenience of physically detaching and then subsequently re-attachingthe mobile device.

Preferably, the mobile device is further controlled by the applicationto determine a unique identifier associated with the mobile device andretrieve from the memory and transmit via the wireless telecommunicationmodule to a remote system said driving information paired with saidunique identifier.

Advantageously, by pairing an identifier uniquely associated with themobile device enables the remote system to unambiguously determine thesource of the driving information. Accordingly, said driving informationcan be matched to a particular driver and/or vehicle. This isparticularly useful when assessing a risk profile of said driver.

Preferably, the mobile device is controlled by the executed applicationto process the driving information to generate a driving score. Thedriving information may comprise the driving score.

Preferably, the mobile device comprises a display screen. Preferably,the display screen is touch-sensitive. Advantageously, the displayscreen may thereby be user-interactable. Preferably, the mobile devicecomprises a graphical user interface (GUI). The graphical user interfacecomprises user-interactable artefacts such as buttons. Preferably, theuser-interactable artefacts may be displayed on the screen and receive auser input for selection or control of those artefacts. The mobiledevice may be controlled to selectively hide those artefacts independence on the state of the mobile device.

Preferably, the mobile device is controlled by the application toprovide feedback about the driving information and/or values of thesensor data. Ideally, such feedback is via the display screen. Forexample, a detected speed may be displayed, a time elapsed may bedisplayed, a bearing/heading may be displayed, a detected position maybe displayed and/or a detected image or sequence of images may bedisplayed (e.g. via a video feed).

In some embodiments there is provided a mobile telecommunications deviceadapted for installation to a vehicle and configured to log drivinginformation associated with the vehicle when driven, the mobile devicecomprising: a sensor set comprising at least one of an image sensor, anaudio sensor, an accelerometer and a positioning module; a processor forprocessing sensor data from at least the sensor set to derive saiddriving information; a memory for storing said derived drivinginformation; a wireless telecommunications module operable to download acontrolling application; and a registration means for registering thestart of a driving period during which the mobile device is installed tothe vehicle and the vehicle is being driven by a driver; wherein, theprocessor is arranged to process sensor data from the sensor set duringthe driving period to derive driving information associated with whenand/or how the vehicle is driven and store a selection of the drivinginformation to the memory.

In another embodiment there is provided a mobile telecommunicationsdevice adapted for installation to a vehicle and configured to logdriving information associated with the vehicle when driven, the mobiledevice comprising: a sensor interface arranged to receive sensor datafrom a sensor set; a processor for processing the sensor data to derivesaid driving information; a memory for storing said derived drivinginformation; a wireless telecommunications module operable to download acontrolling application; and a registration means for registering thestart of a driving period during which the mobile device is installed tothe vehicle and the vehicle is being driven by a driver; wherein, theprocessor is arranged to process sensor data from the sensor set duringthe driving period to derive driving information associated with whenand/or how the vehicle is driven and store a selection of the drivinginformation to the memory.

Preferably, the sensor interface is arranged to receive sensor data froma sensor set external to the mobile device. Preferably, the sensorinterface is arranged to interface with an external device as describedin relation to the first aspect of the present invention.Advantageously, this enables a mobile device to utilise a richer orbetter equipped sensor set than that local to the mobile device.

In another embodiment there is provided a mobile device adapted forinstallation to a vehicle and configured to log driving informationassociated with the vehicle when driven. Preferably, the mobile devicecomprises a sensor interface arranged to receive sensor data from anexternal sensor set. The mobile device may comprise an internal sensorset. Preferably, the mobile device comprises a processor for processingthe sensor data to derive said driving information. Preferably, themobile device comprises a memory for storing said derived drivinginformation. Preferably, the mobile device is a mobile telecommunicationdevice, comprising a wireless telecommunications module. Preferably, thewireless telecommunications module is operable to download anapplication. Preferably, the mobile device comprises a registrationmeans for registering the start of a driving period during which themobile device is installed to the vehicle and the vehicle is beingdriven by a driver. Preferably, the processor is arranged to processsensor data from the sensor set during the driving period to derivedriving information associated with when and/or how the vehicle isdriven. Preferably, the mobile device is arranged to store a selectionof the driving information to the memory. Preferably, the mobile deviceis arranged to transmit a selection of the driving information via thewireless telecommunication module. The mobile device may be arranged totransmit a selection of the driving information via the wirelesstelecommunication module to a remote system such as a remotedata-logging system. Advantageously, transmitting (rather than storing)selected driving information prevents storage space local to the mobiledevice being used up.

In another embodiment there is provided a method of logging drivinginformation associated with a vehicle when driven, the methodcomprising: adapting and installing a mobile device to the vehicle, themobile device comprising a memory; registering the start of a drivingperiod during which the mobile device is installed to the vehicle andthe vehicle is being driven by a driver; processing sensor data from asensor set during the driving period to derive driving informationassociated with when and/or how the vehicle is driven; and storing aselection of the driving information to the memory of the mobile device.

In another embodiment there is provided a data-logging system forlogging driving information comprising: a database for storing aplurality of accounts, each account having a unique identifier and thedatabase being arranged to store driving information associated with atleast one of a vehicle and a driver; a communications interface arrangedto communicate with a remote mobile device, and receive therefrom: aunique identifier for association of the mobile device with acorresponding one of the plurality of accounts; and driving informationto be logged to that corresponding account.

The remote mobile device may be a mobile device in accordance with oneof the first to fourth aspects of the present invention.

Preferably, the driving information comprises a driving score.Preferably, the driving information comprises sensor data captured andprocessed by the mobile device during a driving period during which themobile device is installed to a vehicle being driven by a driver.

Preferably, the system is arranged to process the driving informationlogged to the corresponding account to generate a driving score. Thedriving score may be used to determine a risk profile for at least oneof the vehicle and driver. The driving score may be used to define aninsurance premium associated with the account.

Preferably, the system is further arranged to communicate to a mobiledevice an insurance offer generated in response to the drivinginformation received from the mobile device. The data logging system maybe further arranged to receive from the mobile device a user-acceptanceof the insurance offer.

The mobile device may be arranged to generate an insurance offer inresponse to a predetermined set of conditions being met. For example,driving information over a plurality of driving period adhering topredetermined models. Such models may comprise safe driving parametersand/or thresholds.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provideda method of using a mobile telecommunications device to make a safetydetermination for a vehicle when in use, the method comprising:downloading a software program to the mobile telecommunications device,the software program in use configuring a processor of the mobiletelecommunications device when the mobile telecommunications device isremovably affixed to the vehicle, to: register the start of a drivingperiod during which the mobile telecommunications device is removablyaffixed to the vehicle and the vehicle is being driven by a driver; thestart of the driving period being determined based on the inputsreceived by a user interface of the mobile telecommunications device andsensor data from a sensor set of the device, the sensor set comprising aplurality of sensors selected from a group of sensors including an imagesensor, and at least one of an audio sensor, an accelerometer and apositioning module, the start of the driving period also beingdetermined without data from sensors of the vehicle; process, at themobile telecommunications device, sensor data from the sensor set duringthe driving period to derive driving information associated with how thevehicle is driven; the driving information including images captured bythe image sensor; and store a selection of the driving information to amemory of the mobile telecommunications device; processing the capturedimages to make a safety determination for the vehicle; and issuing analert signal in response to making an unsafe determination for thevehicle from the processing step.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided anon-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions comprising asoftware application stored thereon, wherein the instructions areconfigured to be executed on a processor of a mobile telecommunicationsdevice to enable the mobile telecommunications device to log drivinginformation associated with a driver of a vehicle, the mobiletelecommunications device including a display; a sensor set comprising aplurality of sensors selected from a group of sensors including an imagesensor, and at least one of an audio sensor, an accelerometer and apositioning module; the processor; a user interface and a memory,wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, enable themobile telecommunications device to:register the start of a drivingperiod during which the mobile telecommunications device is removablyaffixed to the vehicle and the vehicle is being driven by a driver; thestart of the driving period being determined based on the inputsreceived by the user interface of the mobile telecommunications deviceand sensor data from the sensor set, the start of the driving periodalso being determined without data from sensors of the vehicle; process,at the mobile telecommunications device, sensor data from the sensor setduring the driving period to derive driving information associated withhow the vehicle is driven; the driving information including imagescaptured by the image sensor; store a selection of the drivinginformation to the memory of the mobile telecommunications device;process the captured images to make a safety determination for thevehicle; and issue an alert signal in response to making an unsafedetermination for the vehicle from the processing step.

For brevity, it will be understood that features, functions andadvantages of different aspects of the present invention may be combinedor substituted where context allows. For example, features, functions oradvantages of the mobile device described in relation to the first tofourth aspects of the present invention may be provided as method stepsin the method of logging driving information according to the fifthaspect of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, referencewill now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a system within which the mobiledevice of various embodiments of the present invention may be used;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of the automobile of FIG. 1 configured with amobile device in accordance various embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the functional components of themobile device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4a is a process flow chart, illustrating method steps executable bythe mobile device of FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 4b is a more detailed process flow chart, providing an example ofhow a driving incident or event may be detected in accordance withembodiments of the present invention; and

FIGS. 5 to 24 illustrate a graphical user interface of the mobile deviceaccording to FIGS. 1 to 4 b.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Specific embodiments are now described with reference to the appendedfigures.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention relates to a mobiletelecommunications device for recording events associated with avehicle, such as a car. In particular, the mobile telecommunicationsdevice is loaded with an application—a ‘mobile app’—which is arranged torecord and document the events surrounding an incident involving thevehicle (a ‘driving incident’), such as a vehicle collision. The mobileapplication may be referred to as the ‘Witness’ application in theensuing description.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 1 within which a vehicle, such as anautomobile 3 configured with a mobile telecommunications deviceexecuting the Witness application, may communicate with one or moreremotely located devices or systems. Such devices may relate to one ormore servers, such as an insurance server 5, an emergency servicesserver 7, a content provider server 9, and a personal computer 11.Communication between the automobile 3 and the one or more remotelylocated devices 5, 7, 9, 11 may be effected via a shared communicationnetwork 13. The shared communication network may relate to a wide areanetwork (WAN) such as the Internet, and may also comprisetelecommunications networks. For example, the mobile telecommunicationsdevice of the present embodiments may be arranged to communicate withany one of the remotely located devices 5, 7, 9, 11 via a mobiletelecommunications base station 15, which is coupled to the sharedmobile telecommunications network 13.

A main purpose of the mobile telecommunications device, when arrangedwithin a vehicle in motion, such as the illustrated automobile 3, is tomonitor and process sensor data captured by the mobile device, to derivedriving information associated with the moving automobile 3. Asmentioned previously, this driving information is subsequently used bythe mobile device to determine if a driving incident or event hasoccurred. The term “driving incident” as used within the present contextmay relate to an event such as a collision, a near-miss, dangerousdriving, erratic driving or similar. Similarly, the driving informationmay be used as a means for monitoring a driver's driving performance,and determining a driving characteristic, or user profile for thesubject driver. In other words, the sensor data and/or the drivinginformation may be used to determine for example, if the driver is acautious driver, or a reckless driver. This information may be used, forexample by an insurance provider, to conduct a risk assessment and totailor an insurance premium to the subject driver on the basis of adetermined driving characteristic. Further details of this alternativeembodiment are described below.

The mobile telecommunication device's functionality is provided by theWitness application, which is installed in the device's localnon-volatile storage, and which is executed by the device's nativeprocessor. The application may be downloaded to the mobile device viathe shared communications network 13 and telephone base station 15, fromthe content provider server 9.

In use (once the application has been configured for execution on themobile telecommunications device), when a driving incident has beendetected by the mobile telecommunications device, data, comprising oneor more of mobile device sensor data, derived driving information, andcaptured image data may be automatically forwarded to one or more of theremotely located devices 5, 7, 9, 11. For example, the mobile device maybe configured such that when a driving incident is detected, such as acollision involving an automobile 3, driving information (includingimage data captured by the mobile device) derived from the sensor datais automatically forwarded to the insurance server 5, via the basestation 15 and shared communications network 13. In this way, datarelating to the driving incident (a collision in this example), isautomatically forwarded to the automobile user's insurance provider, foruse in claim settlement, and/or to determine culpability.

Similarly, once a driving incident has been detected, data may also beautomatically forwarded to the emergency services server 7. For example,such data may comprise the position information of the automobile 3,along with an automated S.O.S. message requesting assistance from theemergency services. Forwarded data may also comprise sensor data, andany relevant derived driving information, such as speed of impact, theg-forces the vehicle was subjected to during the collision, or any otherinformation wherefrom the severity of the collision may be determined,and which may be used to assist the emergency services in coordinatingthe appropriate level of response.

Optionally, an electronic message may be sent to a personal contactpreselected by the user. For example, an automated message, such as ane-mail, may be forwarded to the PC 11 of the user nominated personalcontact, informing the personal contact that the user of the vehicle 3has been involved in a driving incident. Similarly, and due to themobile device's telecommunications functionality, an electronic textmessage, such as an SMS (Short Message Service) may be forwarded to thetelephone of the user selected personal contact, informing the contactof the driving incident. The mobile device may be equally be arranged tocommunicate with a personal contact via any known electronic messagingservice and/or instant messaging service too. For example, via Apple's®iMessage, or RIM's® BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service.

This functionality of forwarding a message to a nominated contact, mayalso be of particular benefit for managing large fleets of vehicles. Forexample, a car hire service. In this way, if any of the vehiclescomprised in the fleet are involved in a driving incident, the car hireservice may be automatically notified of the identity of the specificvehicle involved in the driving incident. In such embodiments, thenominated personal contact would be preselected by the vehicle fleetmanager. The option of providing a second user selected personal contactis also envisaged. In this way, a message may be forwarded to both thecar hire service for example, and to the driver's selected personalcontact.

In preferred embodiments the mobile telecommunications device relates toa mobile telephone having native processing functionality, andpreferably relates to a smartphone. Preferably, the mobile telephonecomprises a camera arranged to enable image capture, and preferablyarranged to enable a sequence of images to be captured taken in temporalsuccession. In other words, in preferred embodiments the mobiletelephone comprises a camera configured to enable video footage of asequence of events to be captured.

Alternatively, the mobile telecommunications device may relate to a PDA,a notepad such as an iPad®, or any other mobile device comprising localprocessing means and means for communicating with a telecommunicationsnetwork.

FIG. 2 provides a more detailed view of the automobile 3 of FIG. 1, andillustrates a preferred arrangement of the mobile telecommunicationsdevice 17 within the automobile 3. In the illustrated embodiment, themobile telecommunications device 17 relates to a smartphone configuredwith an image capture device, such as a camera. Preferably, the device17 is arranged within the vehicle, such that the camera has a clear lineof sight of the road in the principle direction of travel of theautomobile 3. For example, the device 17 may be attached to thewindshield 19 of the automobile 3 in an adapter 21. The adapter 21 maycomprise a flexible telescopic arm, configured with a suction cup at oneend for affixing the adapter to the windshield 19, and a dock arrangedat the opposite end for securely holding the telecommunications device17 in place. The telescopic arm enables the position of the device 17 tobe varied, such that a clear line of sight in the direction of travelmay be obtained.

The details of the adapter 21 are irrelevant for present purposes, withthe exception that it must enable a clear line of sight in the principledirection of travel of the vehicle to be obtained, and it must firmlyaffix the mobile to the vehicle. Affixing the mobile telecommunicationsdevice 17 to the automobile 3, ensures that the mobile device 17 is ableto accurately capture the automobile's state of motion. By principledirection of travel is intended the main direction of travel of thevehicle when operated in a conventional way, indicated by the arrow A inFIG. 2. In other words, the forward direction of travel. The skilledreader will appreciate that whilst most vehicles, such as an automobile,may have more than one direction of travel (e.g. travelling backwardswhen in reverse gear), the majority of vehicles have a primary directionof travel, which is the intended direction of travel for any transit ofsubstantial length and/or distance. Arranging the telecommunicationsdevice 17 relative to the direction of principal travel, ensures thatthe camera (not shown) of the telecommunications device 17 is wellplaced to capture any image data which may be pertinent to asubsequently detected driving incident, such as a collision.

FIG. 3 is a schematic of the modular components of the mobiletelecommunications device 17 of FIG. 2. Preferably the mobiletelecommunications device 17 comprises: an image capture module 21, anaccelerometer 23, a GPS receiver 25, an audio capture module 27, acommunications module 29, a processor module 31 and a storage module 33.The image capture module 21, accelerometer 23, GPS receiver 25, andaudio capture module 27 form a sensor set and are generically referredto as data capture modules in the ensuing description, and aredifferentiated from the communications module 29, processor module 31and storage module 33, in that they comprise sensors for samplingphysical data.

This sampled physical data, which is also referred to as sensor data, issubsequently processed by the processor module 31 and stored in thestorage module 33.

The image capture module 21 may relate to any image capture device, suchas an integrated camera commonly found in smartphones or similar mobiledevices. As mentioned previously, the image capture module 21 ispreferably configured to capture a plurality of images taken in temporalsuccession, such as provided by a video camera.

The accelerometer 23 is arranged to provide information regarding themotion of the automobile 3 along all three dimensional axes. Forexample, the accelerometer 23 provides information regarding the pitch,yaw and roll of the automobile 3. Sensor data captured from theaccelerometer 23 may be used to determine the g-forces the automobilehas been subjected to. This is particularly useful in determining theseverity of a collision. In general, the greater the g-forcesexperienced in a collision, the greater the risk of serious injury tothe passengers of the vehicle. This information may assist the emergencyservices in forming an initial assessment of the severity of acollision. Furthermore, this type of data may also assist the emergencyservices and/or insurance provider to obtain a better understanding ofthe driving incident. For example, in the event of a collision, thisdata may assist the emergency services and/or insurance provider toobtain a better understanding of how the collision occurred. Thisinformation may subsequently be used for dispute resolution, and/or fordetermining culpability.

The GPS receiver 25 is arranged to provide location information, such aspositional coordinates, and can also provide velocity information. Whencombined with the accelerometer sensor data, the GPS receiver data canbe used to provide a very accurate model of a driving incident, such asa collision. In particular, the GPS sensor data provides velocity data,such as the velocity of impact. The velocity data enables one todetermine if a vehicle was being driven at speeds greater than thelegally permitted maximum speeds.

The audio capture module 27 provides means, such as a microphone, forrecording audio data, which might be generated by a driving incident.This includes any sounds generated externally to the vehicle, forexample the sound of an impact, or the sound of the crumple zone beingcrushed. Additionally, sounds generated internally to the vehicle arealso recorded. Such audio data may also help to recreate a drivingincident, and understanding the causes of the incident.

The communication module 29 provides the mobile telecommunicationsdevice 17 with functionality for communicating with the remotely locateddevices 5, 7, 9, 11 of FIG. 1. The communication module 29 comprises awireless telecommunications sub-module 31 enabling communication over atelecommunications network. An optional wi-fi communication sub-moduleis also envisaged. Similarly, the presence of wired communicationmodules are also envisaged, such as a USB port and/or an IEEE 1394interface (more commonly known as FireWire™) to support wiredcommunication with a remote device, such as a personal computer orsimilar. Such a connection may be useful for the purposes ofside-loading the application to the mobile device.

As mentioned previously, sensor data captured from any one of theaforementioned data capture modules 21, 23, 25, 27 is processed by theprocessor module 33, to generate driving information. By drivinginformation is intended any data which may be derived from raw sensordata captured by any one of the aforementioned modules 21, 23, 25, 27.For example, g-force data is driving information which is derived fromthe sensor data sampled by the accelerometer 23. The skilled reader willbe familiar with the plurality of types of driving information that maybe derived from sensor data sampled by the aforementioned modules, andaccordingly a complete list of the different types of drivinginformation that may be derived from sampled sensor data is omitted forbrevity.

The processor module 33 is also configured to analyse sampled sensordata and generated driving information to determine if a drivingincident has occurred (described in more detail below).

Sampled sensor data is stored in storage 34, which is operativelycoupled to the processor module 33, along with any generated drivinginformation. The storage 34 is preferably configured with a FIFO (FirstIn First Out) storage buffer 34 a, and a permanent storage component 34b. In preferred embodiments, the data capture modules are configured tosample data at periodic intervals. Preferably, these intervals aresufficiently small, of the order of milliseconds, such that forpractical purposes the data capture modules may be considered to sampledata continuously. The sampled data, along with any derived drivinginformation is preferably stored in the storage buffer 34 a, unless adriving incident has been identified, in which case the associatedsensor data and driving information is stored in the permanent storagecomponent 34 b to avoid undesirable overwriting.

In preferred embodiments, the FIFO storage buffer 34 a is provided witha finite amount of storage space. Nonetheless, said storage space may bepredefined by the user as will be described below. In any case, oncethis storage space has been exhausted, the oldest recorded data isoverwritten by newly sampled data, and this cycle of overwriting olderdata with newly sampled data is continuously carried out duringoperation of the telecommunications device 17, unless a driving incidenthas been detected, in which case, and as mentioned previously, all datarelated to the driving incident is stored in a long term protectedstorage 34 b to safeguard it from being overwritten by newer data.

In preferred embodiments, the mobile telecommunications device 17 may beconfigured with a data recording strategy by the user. This might definethe frequency with which sensor data is sampled. In other words, howmany measurements are made per unit of time. Furthermore, the recordingstrategy also defines how data is recorded. In preferred embodiments,sampled sensor data is stored in data files in the buffer 34 a. Eachdata file represents a plurality of sequentially sampled sensor data,captured over a defined period of time, which will be referred to as a‘data file period’. This is best illustrated by considering capturedimage data, such as video footage. A video period may be defined, whichperiod defines the unit of physical time covered by captured videofootage comprised in a single video data file—this is the data fileperiod for image data. The video data file is subsequently stored in thebuffer 34 a. For example, a five minute video period setting, instructsthe processor 33 to store all sequentially captured image data capturedby the image capture module 21 over a period of five minutes, in aseparate video data file. It is to be understood that whilst the imagecapture module 21 is continuously sampling image data (in other words,it is continuously capturing image data), this plurality of capturedimage data is grouped together for storage in video data files, eachdata file representing a five minute data file period.

Sampled sensor data and derived driving information is also continuouslyanalysed by the processor module 33 for the purposes of detecting adriving incident. As soon as a driving incident is identified, theassociated sensor data and derived driving information is stored in adata file in accordance with the data recording strategy. Returning tothe example described in the preceding paragraph, this entails combiningthe video footage captured within a temporal window of five minutesleading up to the detected driving incident, in a single video file, andstoring this data file in protected storage 34 b. Whilst each differenttype of sensor data may be recorded in separate data files, in preferredembodiments all the different types of sensor data sampled by the mobiletelecommunications device 17 are stored together in a single data filein accordance with the user selected data recording strategy. This meansthat the five minute data file referred to above, preferably alsocomprises GPS data, accelerometer data, and audio data sampled over thefive minute time period.

Data files are stored in the buffer 34 a, unless they are associatedwith a driving incident, in which case they are then stored in protectedstorage 34 b, which cannot be overwritten. Once the storage spacecomprised in the buffer 34 a has been exhausted, the oldest data file isoverwritten by a newer data file.

Data compression methods may also be used in conjunction with thepresent invention to improve the use of storage. For example, datacomprised in data files which have not been associated with a drivingincident may be compressed using compression techniques, whichtechniques will be known to the skilled reader. Similarly, within a datafile associated with a driving incident, sensor data captured at timecoordinates which are distant from the determined driving incident maybe compressed. In this way, the resolution of sensor data which isdirectly pertinent to a driving incident is maintained, whilst sensordata which may be less relevant to the driving incident is maintained ata lower resolution.

Since the sensors of the mobile telecommunications device 17 arecontinuously recording sensor data, even when a driving incident isdetected, the device 17 may be configured to comprise sensor data and/ordriving information recorded/derived shortly after the driving incidentin the same data file, since this data may also be relevant forunderstanding a driving incident. Furthermore, this also enables themobile telecommunications device to record multiple driving incidents.For example, a multiple collision.

The processor module 33 may be configured with encryption means,enabling stored data files to be encrypted to prevent data tampering.Envisaged encryption means may comprise both software solutions andhardware solutions. For example the processor module may comprise acryptoprocessor, or the processor may be configured with code to carryout a cryptographic process.

FIG. 4a is a flow chart outlining the method carried out by the mobiletelecommunications device 17, to determine if a driving incident hasoccurred, in accordance with a preferred embodiment. An application isdownloaded from the content provider server 9 of FIG. 1, onto the mobiletelecommunications device 17, at step 36, as previously described. Thismay be done over a telecommunications network. The application providesthe mobile telecommunications device 17 with the previously describedfunctionality, when executed on the device. The mobiletelecommunications device is configured within the vehicle, at step 38.This may comprise affixing the mobile telecommunications device 17 tothe vehicle via an adapter, as described previously.

The recording strategy is specified at step 40. As mentioned previously,this comprises setting the period of time that each recorded data filerepresents. Furthermore, it may also comprise defining the size of thebuffer 34 a and/or the number of data files that are to be stored withinthe buffer. Preferably, the recording strategy is specified only once,upon first use of the mobile telecommunications device 17. Where therecording strategy has already been defined, method step 40 is skipped,and the method continues with step 42.

The start of a driving period is registered, at step 42. The start ofthe driving period determines when the recording of sampled sensor databegins. The start of a driving period may be manually entered by theuser via the application's graphical user interface (GUI).Alternatively, the start of the driving period may be automated. Forexample, the mobile device 17 may be configured to initiate the drivingperiod once sensor data above a minimum threshold value is recorded,indicative of the vehicle being in motion. For example, once a velocitygreater than 20 kilometres per hour is detected.

Alternatively, the start of the driving period may be initiated once theapplication determines that the mobile telecommunications device 17 hasbeen affixed to the vehicle. For example, the adapter 21 may comprise aregistration module (not shown) arranged to register the installationand fixation of the mobile device to the vehicle and/or adapter. Theregistration module may comprise an NFC device. When the mobile deviceis brought into close proximity with the registration module, a drivingperiod is initiated.

Once the driving period has been initiated, sensor data is sampled andrecorded in storage 34, at step 44. Additionally, the sampled sensordata is used to generate driving information by the processor module 33.The sampled sensor data and the driving information is continuouslyanalysed by the processor module 33, at step 46.

The processor module 33 determines if a driving incident has beendetected, at step 48. This is determined on the basis of the analysiscarried out at step 46. If a driving incident has been detected, all thesensor data and driving information associated with the data fileperiod, is stored in a data file in protected storage 34 b, at step 50.

There are several ways in which a driving incident may be detected.Preferably, this is an automated process, wherein the processor module33 determines a driving incident has occurred on the basis of anobserved marked variation in sensor data and/or driving information. Theterm ‘marked variation’ is to be understood to relate to a significantchange in sensor data and/or driving information occurring over a veryshort time period. In other words, a detected impulse in recorded sensordata and/or driving information, indicative of a significant change inthe state of motion of the vehicle occurring over a short time period.For example, a sudden increase in the g-forces the vehicle is subjectedto, may be indicative of a collision and if observed, result in adriving incident being determined to have occurred by the processormodule 33.

Predefined threshold values may also be used to automate the detectionof a driving incident. For example, each data type and/or deriveddriving information (e.g. acceleration, velocity, g-force, pitch, roll,yaw etc.) may be associated with a threshold value. When any one ofthese threshold values is exceeded, the processor module 33 may beconfigured to determine that a driving incident has occurred. Similarly,the automated detection of a driving incident may require that athreshold condition associated with a combination of predefinedthreshold values, each threshold value being associated with a differentdata type and/or type of driving information, must be exceeded, in orderfor the processor module 33 to automatically determine that a drivingincident has occurred. For example, in the event of a collision, it isreasonable to expect to observe a marked variation in g-force,accompanied by a marked variation in velocity. Accordingly, thethreshold condition may require that in order for a collision to beautomatically detected, both a marked variation in g-force and a markedvariation in speed, in excess of predefined threshold values must beobserved.

Similarly, the occurrence of a driving incident may also be recordedmanually by the user via the application GUI. This may be beneficial forthe purposes of documenting data associated with a low velocitycollision—colloquially referred to as a ‘fender-bender’—which may notresult in any marked variations in sampled sensor data, and thereforemay not be automatically detected.

Once a driving incident, such as a collision, has been detected, and thedata file comprising the associated sensor data and driving informationhas been securely stored in protected storage 34 b, the data file istransmitted to the insurance server 5 of FIG. 1, at step 52. The datafile informs the insurance provider that a driving incident has occurredand provides the insurance provider with the sensor data and deriveddriving information. This data assists the insurance provider in betterunderstanding the collision, in addition to assisting with determiningculpability, where more than one vehicle are involved.

Similarly, once a driving incident has been detected, an S.O.S. messagemay be automatically forwarded from the mobile telecommunications device17 to the emergency services server 7, at step 54. The S.O.S. messagemay also comprise sensor data and derived driving information, which mayassist the emergency services in coordinating their response.

As mentioned previously, the mobile telecommunications device 17 willcontinue to sample and record sensor data even once a driving incidenthas been detected, unless the mobile telecommunications device 17detects that the driving period has terminated, at step 56. If thedriving period has terminated, the present method is terminated and thedevice stops recording sensor data. The end of a driving period may beautomatically detected by the processor module 33, if certain conditionsare met. For example, if the measured velocity of the vehicle remainszero for a predetermined period of time, the processor module 33 mayinfer that the vehicle is stationary and no longer being driven, andaccordingly ceases recording sensor data, and the method is terminated.If instead the processor determines that the driving period has not yetterminated, a new data file period is initiated, at step 58, and steps44 through 62 are repeated.

Where a driving incident is not detected at step 48, the processormodule 33 will determine if the data file period has expired, at step60. If the data file period has expired, then the sensor data and thederived driving information generated during the data file period iscombined and stored in a single data file, for storage in the buffer 34b, at step 62. The processor 3 then determines, at step 56, if thedriving period has terminated. If the driving period has not terminated,a new data file period is initiated, at step 58. The mobiletelecommunications device 17 continues to sample sensor data, to derivedriving information, and steps 44 through 62 are repeated, until thedriving period is determined to have terminated.

FIG. 4b provides more detail regarding how a driving incident may beautomatically detected (i.e. steps 46 and 48 of FIG. 4a ) in a preferredembodiment, where the mobile telecommunications device 17 is configuredto sample audio data, accelerometer data, and GPS data only. Each one ofthese types of data is analysed in turn, at steps 64, 66 and 68. Theanalysis may comprise comparing measured sensor data and/or deriveddriving information with a data model. The model may comprise definedthreshold values for different data types. Sampled sensor data and/ordriving information may be compared with the data model to determine ifa driving incident has occurred.

For example, the analysis of sampled audio data, at step 64, maycomprise comparing the recorded audio data with predetermined audio datamodels representing specific sounds. Such sounds may relate to the soundof tyre squeals, the sound of deforming metal, the sound of breakingglass, passenger screaming and/or shouting, the sound of airbagdeployment, and any other sound which may be associated with a drivingincident. Effectively, this may be considered audio fingerprinting,which serves to identify specific sounds associated with a drivingincident by carrying out a signal profile analyses of the audio signalcaptured by the audio capture module 27. To achieve this, the storagedevice 34 may comprise a database of prestored audio sound files. Theaudio sound files represent sounds associated with a driving incident.The captured audio signal is compared with the sound files comprised inthe database, to identify matches between the captured audio signal andthe database of sound files. This facilitates the audio fingerprintingof specific sounds, indicative of a driving incident, present within thecaptured audio data signal captured by the audio capture module 27.

Similarly, the analysis of sampled accelerometer data, at step 66, maycomprise comparing the sampled data with predetermined accelerometerdata models. The data models represent specific states of motion of thevehicle. For example, this might comprise defining threshold values foryaw, pitch and roll, which if exceeded, indicate a state of motion ofthe vehicle indicative of a driving incident. For example, a measuredyaw value above a predetermined threshold value may be indicative of thevehicle having lost traction and is fishtailing and/or skidding.Similarly, a roll and/or pitch value above a predetermined thresholdvalue may be indicative of the vehicle having overturned.

Accelerometer sensor data is also used for deriving driving informationsuch as g-forces. Analysis of g-force data is also used to determine ifa driving incident has occurred. For example, approximate g-force valuesfor detecting certain driving incidents are as follows:

Harsh braking—a deceleration of greater than 2.5 m/s² or forward G-forceof greater than 0.7 G for more than 400 msec.

Harsh acceleration—from stationary, an acceleration greater than 2.5m/s² or backward G-force of greater than 0.7 G for more than 800 msec.

Harsh swerving—lateral G-forces greater than 0.7 G for more than 400msec.

The data models are preferably preconfigured and are comprised withinthe application executed on the mobile telecommunications device.Different data models are used depending on the type of vehicle thetelecommunications device is being used with. Different vehicle typeswill experience different states of motion during regular operation,which must be considered in determining if a driving incident hasoccurred. For example, a motorcycle will display more roll and/or pitchthan an automobile during regular operation. Accordingly, different datamodels and/or threshold values must be used to automate theidentification of a driving incident for different vehicle types. Thespecific data models used may be selected during an initialconfiguration of the mobile telecommunications device, by indicating thetype of vehicle the device is being used with.

On the basis of the audio data analysis and the accelerometer dataanalysis, the mobile telecommunications device determines, at step 72,if a driving incident has occurred. If it is determined that a drivingincident has occurred, then the telecommunications device proceeds withstep 50 of FIG. 4a . If instead a driving incident is not detected, thetelecommunications device proceeds with step 60 of FIG. 4 a.

The GPS data analysis, at step 68, comprises analysing positional dataand velocity data for any anomalous readings. For example, a suddendeceleration followed by a zero-velocity reading lasting a predeterminedperiod of time, may be indicative of a collision. If such azero-velocity reading is observed at step 70, in conjunction withanomalous audio and/or accelerometer sensor at step 72, then a drivingincident is determined and the mobile telecommunications device proceedswith step 50 of FIG. 4a . This is a further example of a thresholdcondition, discussed previously.

The previously described mobile telecommunications device and method mayalso be used to monitor and generate a driver profile. The driverprofile may be indicative of the type of driver a user is. For example,this may comprise determining if a user is a calm and patient driver, oran aggressive driver. Also, this may comprise determining whether a userregularly flouts speed limits, and/or ignores safety distances. Thistype of information may be used by an insurance provider to conduct apersonalised risk assessment for individual users. Insurance premiumrates may then be tailored to the specific user on the basis of thepersonalised risk assessment.

For example, analysis of captured image data, such as video footage, maybe used to determine if a user regularly flouts safety distances. Inpreferred embodiments, the mobile telecommunications device is arrangedwithin the subject vehicle to have a clear line of sight of the road inthe direction of principle motion. Accordingly, the number plate of anyvehicle preceding the subject vehicle will be captured by the imagecapture module. Since the physical dimensions of number plates arestandardised and known in each country, they may be used as a metric toscale the captured image. When combined with the known opticalcharacteristics of the image capture module, this enables the distanceof the image capture module from the image object (i.e. the precedingvehicle) to be determined at the time of image capture. This informationmay then be used to see if a user adheres to recommended safetydistances. A user that is observed to regularly flout recommended safetydistances, may be considered to represent a greater risk, andaccordingly may be required to pay a greater insurance premium than auser who regularly respects recommended safety distances.

Image analysis can also be used to determine driving conditions and thedriving environments. For example, image processing can detect roadsigns, such as stop signs or traffic lights. Furthermore, drivingconditions, as affected by the weather can be determined. For example,if the windscreen wipers are detected to be in motion, it can beinferred to be raining. Once the driving conditions are so determined,an assessment of the driving performance of a user can be made bydetermining whether the user reacts or behaves appropriately to thedriving conditions. For example, if the driver is seen to be jumping redlights, or driving dangerously in rain or snow, then a higher riskprofile may be assigned to that driver.

Similarly, accelerometer and g-force data may be used to determine if auser has an erratic driving style. For example, a user that generatessharp variations in g-force data and accelerometer data during regularoperation of a vehicle, may be considered to drive erratically, andtherefore at greater risk of being involved in an accident, andinsurance premium rates for the user may be tailored accordingly.

The mobile telecommunications device may also be configured to interfaceand communicate directly with a vehicles native telemetry systems. Forexample, the majority of modern cars have inbuilt electronic controlsystems or engine management systems, arranged to collect data regardingvehicle system performance. This data may be communicated to the mobiletelecommunications device either via a wired physical connection, suchas USB (Universal Serial Bus), or via a wireless communication protocolsuch as Bluetooth®. This data may subsequently be used by the mobiletelecommunications device to complement sensor data captured directly bythe telecommunications device. In this way a more accurate model of adriving incident, and/or of a user profile may be generated. Forexample, native vehicle telemetric systems may comprise electronic tyrepressure sensors, and are able to detect if a tyre is under and/orover-inflated. This information may be communicated to the mobiletelecommunications device and may help to explain the causes for adriving incident, such as a sudden loss of traction resulting from aburst tyre.

Further features of the Witness application, are set out below.

Benchmarking

It will be appreciated that different sensor types, phones, mountingpositions, vehicles, drivers and road conditions may generate differingoutputs for driving behaviour that is ‘safe’. To account for this, theWitness application may have the following functionality:

During a ‘training mode’ (e.g. first week of enabling the Witnessapplication) the input from the sensors are used to build up a‘benchmark’ for a particular driver's typical driving conditions.

Assuming an accident does not occur during this training mode, thebenchmark data can be subsequently used to assess the occurrence ofdriving incident.

There is preferably an option to notify the Witness application of achange in parameters (e.g. different driver, driving off-road etc). Thusa number of ‘profiles’ may be set up. Each profile may require anindependent training mode period.

If the Witness application incorrectly detects that a driving incidenthas occurred, it can receive feedback from the user to modify itssensitivities. E.g. a more aggressive driver is actually driving.

Crash/Collision Management

On detection of a crash (or other driving incident) the Witnessapplication is arranged to take one or more of the following actions:

Announce that it has detected an accident (audio/screen prompt)

Call the emergency services (with option to cancel)—e.g: Audio/screenprompt: ‘Witness has detected that you have been involved in a (serious)accident and will call the emergency services. If this is not the case,please cancel within 10 seconds.’

Provide reassurance

Provide the user with a checklist of things to do:

Take photographs of vehicles involved in the incident (inc numberplates)

Take down name, address, insurance details etc of 3^(rd) partiesinvolved in incident

Communicate to the insurance company that an incident has been detected(e.g. low bandwidth data or text message)

Protect the high quality recorded data so it is not overwritten

If appropriate—or in response to a request from a communication to thephone from the insurance company—transmit all or selected portions ofthe recorded data associated with the incident.

N.B. Use of the communication channels is controlled by the Witnessapplication to prioritise essential communications such as calls to theemergency services.

Note that data transmission from the mobile telephone to the insurancecompany may be automatic (for example, triggered by a detected incident)or manual (for example, in response to a request from the insurancecompany). In the latter case, the Witness application may includefunctionality to allow the insurance company to browse through the datafiles available on the mobile telephone so as to select one or more fortransmission to the insurance company.

Data Processing for Generating a User Profile

Further features of the user profile generation embodiment aresummarised:

If the Witness application incorrectly detects an event or incident ofsignificance, and receives feedback that the vehicle was not involved inan accident (but was in a near miss)—this could alter the risk profileof the driver. For example—if this happens frequently, but no accidentoccurs over a given period, this could be an indicator that the driveris good at reacting to potential hazards.

Erratic driving (e.g. jerky steering or braking detected by G-forcesensor).

Driving faster than the speed limit allocated to a given road (detectedby GPS).

Further details regarding the features and functionality of the Witnessapplication, in particular the graphical user interface of the Witnessapplication, are now described.

Referring to FIG. 5, a first page 80 of the Witness application usermanual is shown in which an image of the Main Menu (the top-level menu)82 is displayed. The Main Menu is displayed when a user first runs theapplication on a smart-phone, such as the iPhone® 4. The main menuincludes the following user-selectable buttons:

Recording Screen 84

File Management 86

Settings 88

Accident Management 90

Information 92 (displays up a manual, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 14).

Selecting the Recording Screen button 84 opens the Recording Screen94—the second image shown in FIG. 5. The Recording Screen 94 contains avideo feed 96 from the camera of the smart-phone, which occupies themajority of the visible screen area. Overlaid on to the video feed isthe detected speed of the vehicle 98 (e.g. 0 mph), heading 100 (e.g.south by south-west) and the elapsed recorded time 102 (e.g. 00:00).Displayed in a left column of the Recording Screen are additional userselectable buttons:

Keep current video 104 (pressing this button will automatically copy thecurrent video—and the previous video segment—to the protected storage 34b, and prevents that information from being overwritten. The user isadvised to press this button in the event of a driving incident thatneeds to be recorded).

Take photo 106 (captures a still photograph).

Exit Recorder 108 (returns to main screen).

Start/Stop Recording 110 (starts recording video footage—and otherdata).

Referring to FIG. 6, a second page 112 of the Witness application usermanual is shown, in which an image of the Recording Screen 114 is shownand described operating in a map-displaying mode rather than avideo-feed mode.

During recording, (i.e. when the ‘Start/Stop Recording’ button 110 ispressed) the Exit Recorder button in the Recording Screen is substitutedwith a Map Display button 116. Pressing it will toggle between the modesshowing the video feed and a map of the current location.

Referring to FIG. 7, a third page 118 of the Witness application usermanual is shown, in which the File Management Screen 120 is shown anddescribed. The File Management Screen 120 can be accessed by pressingthe File Management Button 86 in the Main Menu.

The File Management Screen 120 displays video and associated data (e.g.telemetry data) that has been previously recorded. The stored data iscontained in either a protected area of storage or in a “RecordingStack”. Data files in the protected area are saved and so notoverwritten as part of a Recording Strategy. In contrast, data files inthe Recording Stack may be overwritten as part of the RecordingStrategy.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, the bottom section of the list represents the“Kept” data files 122, whereas the top section of the list representsthe “Recording Stack” 124. “Kept” data files 122 can be edited anddeleted from the File Management Screen 120, whereas “Recording Stack”data files cannot. Editing “Kept” data files can involve renaming them.

The recorded data files are listed on screen along with the time anddate of the recording and the electronic size of the data file.Accordingly, the user is provided with feedback about how big the datafiles are, and so if the smart-phone is low in storage, the user canelect to delete certain “Kept” data files. “Recording Stack” data fileswill be automatically overridden by the Recording Strategy.

The controls on the toolbar at the bottom of the recordings screen allowa user to change the selection mode of the video stack and includes:

Video 126 (when highlighted, if a data file is selected, a videorecording playback screen will be displayed).

Map 128 (when highlighted, if a data file is selected, then a map willbe displayed showing the area over which the recording was made).

Export 130 (when highlighted, a selected data file will be passed to anExport Screen where export options will be provided).

Keep 132 (when highlighted, if a “Recording Stack” data file isselected, then a user will be prompted to name it, and then it will bestored as a “Kept” data file).

The icons in the File Management Screen change in dependence on theselected mode. For example, FIG. 20 shows the icons 134 displayed whenthe Video selection mode is highlighted; FIG. 21 shows the icons 136displayed when the Map selection mode is highlighted; FIG. 22 shows theicons 138 displayed when the Export selection mode is highlighted andFIG. 23 shows the icons 140 displayed when the Keep selection mode ishighlighted. Advantageously, this provides improved feedback to a userabout what selection mode is highlighted and so what action is likelyfrom the selection of a data file.

Referring to FIG. 8, a fourth page 142 of the Witness application usermanual is shown, in which an image of a Recording Playback screen 144 isshown and described. The Recording Playback screen is invoked byhighlighting the Video Mode 126 in the File Management Screen 120 andselecting an appropriate data file.

In the Recording Playback screen 144 it is possible to play back apre-recorded video feed associated with a chosen data file. As well asplaying back the recorded video feed, the Recording Playback screen alsodisplays other associated data such as telemetry data 146. For example,date, time, speed, forward/backward G-forces, latitude, longitude andheading information is overlaid onto the video feed. As the video isplayed back, these values will typically change depending on thebehaviour of the vehicle, as recorded by the mobile device.

Forward and backward G-forces are those that correspond to the forwardand backward movement of the vehicle and are the primary metric fordetermining an event such as a crash. However, other G-forces (e.g.up/down and side-to-side) may also be measured by the device—even ifthey are not necessarily displayed on the mobile screen.

As recited in FIG. 8, the Recording Playback screen provides furtheruser controls in the form of:

Playback Position Scrub Bar 148 (horizontal bar at bottom of screen)

Playback Speed Bar 150 (vertical bar at left side of screen)

Pause 152 (pauses playback)

Eject 154 (return to previous screen)

Loop 156 (plays the data file continuously)

The Playback Position Scrub Bar 148 allows a user to jump to differentpositions within the recording without necessarily needing to watch allof the recorded footage. Advantageously, this allows a user to morequickly locate a desired item of footage within a given data file. Also,the Playback Speed Bar 150 can be used to speed up or slow down theplayback of the data file. This allows a desired item of footage to befound more quickly through sped-up playback, and also allows an item offootage to be more carefully analysed through slowed-down playback.Furthermore, it is possible to zoom in and out of a region of the videofile using a ‘pinch and zoom’ movement as is standard with mostmulti-touch touch-screen devices.

Referring to FIG. 9, a fifth page 158 of the Witness application usermanual is shown, in which a different type of Recording Playback screen160 is shown and described. Specifically, the image represents playbackof a pre-recorded data file as can be invoked by highlighting the MapMode 128 in the File Management Screen 120 and selecting an appropriatedata file.

In contrast with the Video Mode playback, this Map Mode playback shows amap of the area 162 where the recording took place. A blue breadcrumbtrail 164 is overlaid on to the map showing the extent of movement ofthe vehicle during the recorded period. A scrub slider 166 is shown,which is user-operable to adjust the time within the recorded period. Asthe slider is adjusted, a pin 168 moves along the blue breadcrumb 164 toshow the position of the vehicle at the time as specified by the slider166. Tapping the pin 168 displays associated telemetry data 170 at thatposition and time.

Referring to FIG. 10, a sixth page 172 of the Witness application usermanual is shown, in which an image of a Video Export Screen 174 isdescribed. The Video Export Screen 174 may be invoked by highlightingthe Export button 130 in the File Management Screen 120 and selecting anappropriate data file.

The Video Export Screen 174 allows the quality of the video associatedwith the selected data file to be adjusted, before that video isexported. Advantageously, this can allow the user to control the size ofthe data to be exported. Telemetry data (i.e. sensor data) is alsoexported, embedded within the video file. Video data can be exportedwith or without sound, depending on the permissions of the user. Exporttypically involves copying data files from the mobile device to a localcomputer (e.g. via a data cable) or a remote server (e.g. via a wirelessconnection).

Referring to FIG. 11, a seventh page 176 of the Witness application usermanual is shown, in which an image of the Settings Screen 178 isdisplayed and described. The Settings Screen 178 allows the operation ofthe Recording Strategy to be controlled. Specifically, the SettingsScreen allows a user to select the number of video segments that theapplication should store, and the size of those segments (i.e. a datafile period). Accordingly, the user is able to set a limit to thestorage usage of the Recording Stack (i.e. the size of the buffer 34 a)part of the program. The user can also control the storage usage of theRecording Stack through the use of the video quality buttons.

Note that the Witness application may be arranged to calculate theremaining memory available on the smart-phone and suggest theappropriate settings automatically.

The Recording Strategy involves maintaining a user-controlled number ofvideo segments. When a new video recording is initialised—instantiatinga new segment—this is written over the oldest video segment. Thus onlythe most recently recorded videos are maintained in the Recording Stack.

Another setting that can be controlled in the Settings Screen 178 is theG-force threshold at which the Witness application will assume that acrash has taken place. It is expected that different vehicles anddriving styles will need different G-force thresholds to be set toensure a reasonable sensitivity to crash forces whilst also preventcrash detection false positives. It should be noted that although themanual recites “Raise the sensitivity if you find that crash detectionis triggered during normal driving . . . ” it is the sensitivitythreshold that is to be raised, and not the sensitivity itself. A slider180 allows the sensitivity threshold to be set via the touch-sensitivescreen.

The Settings Screen 178 also has a button 182 to allow a user to definemore settings via a More Settings Screen.

Referring to FIG. 12, an eighth page 184 of the Witness application usermanual is shown, in which an image of the More Settings Screen 186 isdisplayed and described. Here, it is possible for the user to selectspeed units 188 and also select whether the map should be displayedduring recording 190, and at which speed it should be displayed infavour of the video feed. This is a safety feature of the Witnessapplication that hides the video feed during recording when the vehicleis detected as travelling above a predetermined speed. The video feed isreplaced by a map of the location of the vehicle—as is typical within-vehicle GPS devices. Note that although the on-screen video feed isreplaced with a map, video recording continues in the background.

In alternatives, the application may be arranged to detect the vehiclespeed, and at a particular speed, switch off the screen entirely. Itshould be understood that the device will continue to record video,telemetry and other information even when the screen is switched off.Entirely switching off the screen of the device is advantageous as itsignificantly reduces the drain on the battery of the mobile device.

Note that the Witness application is also arranged to interface with thephone to detect low-light conditions and in response change thebrightness of the screen to prevent the user/driver being dazzled. Thiscan also save battery life.

The More Settings Screen 186 also includes a Personal Details button 192which, when pressed invokes a Personal Details Screen.

Referring to FIG. 13, a ninth page 194 of the Witness application usermanual is shown, in which an image of the Personal Details Screen 196 isdisplayed and described.

Here, the name 198, vehicle registration number 200, mobile number 202and email address 204 to be used in an emergency, can be specified bythe user. In the event of a detected incident, these details, along withinformation regarding the detected incident (e.g. time of incident,location and optionally telemetry data) will be emailed to the specifiedemail address automatically. This can ensure that the chosen recipientof that email will be informed immediately about the occurrence andnature of the detected incident.

This Personal Details Screen 196 also allows the user to set whether itis possible for the video stack to be deleted 206. A security PINprotects the changing of this option so that if a first user having thePIN (for example, a parent) can review the driving style and behaviourof a second user not having the PIN (for example, their son or daughter)by reviewing the Recording Stack—as the Recording Stack cannot bedeleted by that second user. As shown in FIG. 24, the PIN can be set forthe first time by entering it twice into the appropriate PIN fields 208.

Referring to FIG. 14, a tenth page 210 of the Witness application usermanual is shown, in which images of an Accident Management Screen 212and Witness Details Screen 214 are displayed and described.

The Accident Management Screen 212 can be invoked by the user selectingthe accident management button 90 on the Main Menu, or can beautomatically switched to after the Witness application has detectedthat there has been an incident (e.g. via G-forces exceeding a thresholdlevel). Similarly, data can automatically be permanently stored as“Kept” and/or sent if high G-forces are detected.

As can be seen on the Accident Management Screen 212, there are thefollowing user selectable buttons:

Accident Advice/What to do 214

This option provides guidance as to what to do during an accident—seeFIGS. 15 and 16 for the displayed Accident Advice Screens.

Witnesses 216

This option invokes functionality to allow the collection of informationfrom or about witnesses to an incident. An image of the Witnesses Detailinformation summary screen 214 is shown in FIG. 14. FIG. 17 shows theWitness Detail information collection screen 218. Voice notes can alsobe taken via the microphone of the smart-phone.

Photos 220

This option enables the camera to allow a user to capture imagesassociated with an incident.

Drivers 222

This option invokes functionality to allow collection about the otherdrivers involved in an incident, such as their vehicle and insurancedetails. The Drivers Detail information collection screen 224 is shownin FIG. 18.

Your Details 226

This option provides a readily available store of the details of theuser—as to be provided to other drivers—and can contain name, addressand insurance details. The ‘Your Details’ screen 228 is shown in FIG.19.

Details recorded via the Accident Management Screen 212 areelectronically authenticated and feature a time-stamp. In alternatives,this data may be encrypted to ensure the integrity of the stored data.

Furthermore, in alternatives, the exchange of the details of the driversand witnesses can be conducted, at least in part, via Bluetooth® (forexample, between mobile devices)—and/or via email. Relevant informationassociated with the driver is pre-stored on the Witness application in aformat that can be sent readily, via a communication channel such asBluetooth® or email.

Finally, note that in each Screen or Menu, there is a button 230provided to go back to the previous menu. Also, when certain actions areperformed or selected by a user, the Witness application is arranged toprovide an audible feedback signal (for example, a beep). For example,this could be in response to starting a recording, keeping a videosegment and/or a stopped recording.

Alternatives and Extensions

The Witness application can be extended to interface with remote usersto allow them to control the operation of the application as well asview information logged by the application.

In particular, the present application can be extended to a scenariowhere the Witness application is under the control of an insurancecompany. Such an insurance company may provide insurance to the user,and so may have an interest in the behaviour of that user, and moreover,a vehicle under the control of that user, as described previously.

In such a scenario, the insurance company will maintain a devicemonitoring system that can interface with a mobile device running theWitness application. In fact, the device monitoring system may interfacewith a large number of mobile devices, each running an individual copyof the Witness application, logging respective user/vehicle behaviours.This could the insurance provider server 5 of FIG. 1.

With such a monitoring system, it is unpractical to actively monitoreach and every mobile device and receiving and handling the sheerquantity of data from each and every device would also be verydifficult.

Consequently, the device monitoring system and the mobile devices areadvantageously arranged to automatically and intelligently interfacewith one another in a way that minimises the computational and bandwidthburden on the device monitoring system.

In particular, each mobile device running the Witness application isarranged to make a determination as to whether there is a need totransfer data to the device monitoring system. For example, the Witnessapplication may be arranged to automatically send data to the devicemonitoring system that only has high G-force activity associated withit, as this may be indicative of a crash or another driving incident.Alternatively, the Witness application may be arranged to send detailedor high-bandwidth information if a user indicates that an accident hasoccurred.

In either case, the video segments and associated sensor and/or deriveddriving information data associated with the relevant event will besent. However, no other data (for example, from another date) will besent.

Alternatively, less computationally or bandwidth intensive informationmay be sent on a periodic basis—for example, every day, week or month.Such general information may be sent to establish a profile of aparticular user. For example, many high G-force related activities mayindicate that the driver is driving aggressively. A determination aboutthe profile can be made automatically by requesting and automaticallyanalysing further data. For example, the location and speed informationcan be used to determine whether a vehicle is found to frequently breakthe speed limit. If this is the case, then the profile of the user canbe set accordingly.

Such general and periodically obtained information can also be used toremotely adjust the settings of the application. For example, many highG-force related activities may instead indicate that the set up of thecar is such that the mobile device is subjected to high G forces (ratherthan the driver driving aggressively). If the driving is determined tobe safe, but the mobile device is setting off many false positives, thenthe device monitoring system can automatically adjust the settings ofthe application. For example, the G-force sensitivity threshold may beincreased remotely.

Thus, the initial data that is automatically transmitted from the mobiledevice to the vehicle monitoring system is limited in bandwidth so asnot to overload the vehicle monitoring system as a whole. However, afterprocessing or analysis is performed on the initial data, furtherinformation may be requested. For example, further information may berequested automatically by the system or manually by a controller actingfor the insurance company. Such further information may include highresolution video logs and sensor data and derived driving informationsuch as G-force measurements.

It will be understood that the mobile device may also automatically keepcertain data at random. Furthermore, the reason for keeping certain datamay also be logged (e.g. logged as a result of a manual request by theuser, or in response to a high G-force event).

The mobile device and device monitoring system may also be arranged tohighlight detected transgressions. For example, driving during curfewhours, or driving at locations where insurance is not valid (e.g. othercountries, off-road, race tracks etc).

As will be appreciated, the interaction of the mobile device and thedevice monitoring system has the advantage of actively improving userdriving behaviour. That is, if the user knows that their logged drivingbehaviour may adversely effect their insurance policy, then it is likelythat the user will be dissuaded from driving recklessly. In view ofthis, an insurance company may be able to incentivise users throughlower insurance premiums.

However, so that users do not wrongfully benefit from such incentives,it is necessary to enforce the correct and consistent use of the Witnessapplication.

It would not be beneficial from the perspective of the insurance companyif the user could choose when to enable the application. For example, ifa user could choose to disable the application when speeding then theeffectiveness of the application would be reduced.

Accordingly, the application may include measures to guarantee that theapplication is enabled whenever a given insured vehicle is being driven.

Such measures may involve matching data recorded by the Witnessapplication with that recorded independently by the vehicle. Forexample, the Witness application records the distance travelled duringevery journey. To ensure the summed distances of all journeys tracked bythe Witness application tally with the total travelled distance of thevehicle, the user may be prompted to enter the odometer mileageperiodically.

If the distance recorded by the Witness application does not correlatewith the difference between odometer readings, then the discrepancy willbe flagged to the user and/or the insurance company. A substantialdiscrepancy will typically indicate that the Witness application has notbeen monitoring all vehicle journeys and the appropriate action can betaken (e.g. the user can be warned, insurance premium may be raisedetc).

It will be appreciated that such a tallying exercise depends on theWitness application being used every time one particular vehicle isdriven. However, in alternatives, if the Witness application is usedwith different vehicles, the Witness application may be arranged toregister the different vehicles so that their respective odometerreadings can be tallied with distance recordings associated with eachrespective vehicle.

Other measures can be implemented in conjunction with the Witnessapplication to guarantee that the application is enabled whenever agiven vehicle is being driven. For example, the mobile device on whichthe Witness application is installed may comprise an NFC device, such asan RFID tag. The NFC device may be compatible with a complementarydevice on a so-called ‘smart-holster’ into which the mobile device maybe fitted during operation.

The smart-holster interacts with the NFC device on the smart-phone todetermine whether or not the smart-phone is inserted into thesmart-holster. The smart-holster can then be interfaced with the enginemanagement system of the vehicle so that the vehicle may be activatedand driven only when the mobile device is in place within thesmart-holster.

It will be appreciated that the mobile device has so far been describedin the context of a smart-phone. However, it will be appreciated by aperson skilled in the art that other devices may also be suitable forperforming the functions described in relation to the Witnessapplication. For example, the Witness application may be adapted to runon a general purpose tablet-style computing device, such as an iPad®.

Furthermore, it will be understood that features, advantages andfunctionality of the different embodiments described herein may becombined where context allows. In addition, a skilled person willappreciated that the functionality described above may be implementedusing the mobile device suitably programmed.

Having described several exemplary embodiments of the present inventionand the implementation of different functions of the device in detail,it is to be appreciated that the skilled addressee will readily be ableto adapt the basic configuration of the device to carry out describedfunctionality without requiring detailed explanation of how this wouldbe achieved. Therefore, in the present specification several functionsof the device have been described in different places without anexplanation of the required detailed implementation as this notnecessary given the abilities of the skilled addressee to codefunctionality into the device.

1. A mobile telecommunications device configured to log drivinginformation associated with a vehicle, the mobile telecommunicationsdevice comprising: a sensor set comprising at least one of an imagesensor, an audio sensor, an accelerometer and a positioning module, or acombination thereof; a processor; and a memory; the mobiletelecommunications device being configured to: determine, based at leastin part on sensor data from the device's sensor set, a start of adriving period during which the mobile device is present in the vehicleand the vehicle is in use, process the sensor data from the sensor setduring the driving period to derive driving information associated withhow the vehicle is driven, mobile telecommunications device beingconfigured to process the sensor data automatically, using a neuralnetwork provided in the mobile device, to determine whether the drivinginformation represents an acceptable or unacceptable driving pattern;and store at least some of the driving information to the memory.
 2. Amobile telecommunications device of claim 1, wherein the drivinginformation is derived without data from the vehicle sensors.
 3. Amobile telecommunications device of claim 1, wherein the mobiletelecommunications device is configured to detect the occurrence of apredetermined event and in response to take at least one predeterminedaction.
 4. A mobile telecommunications device of claim 1, wherein themobile telecommunications device is configured to process the drivinginformation to generate a driving score.
 5. A mobile telecommunicationsdevice of claim 4, wherein the mobile telecommunications device isconfigured to use the driving score to define an insurance premium for adriver of the vehicle.
 6. A mobile telecommunications device of claim 1,further comprising a user interface and wherein the mobiletelecommunications device is configured to determine, based at least inpart on the inputs received by the user interface, the start of thedriving period.
 7. A mobile telecommunications device of claim 1,wherein the mobile telecommunications device is a smartphone.
 8. Amobile telecommunications device of claim 7, wherein the mobiletelecommunications device is controlled by a downloaded application touse the neural network to determine whether the driving informationrepresents an acceptable or unacceptable driving pattern.
 9. A mobiletelecommunications device of claim 5, wherein the mobiletelecommunications device is removably affixed to the vehicle during thedriving period.
 10. A mobile telecommunications device according toclaim 1, wherein the mobile telecommunications device is configured todetect predetermined driving events, the predetermined driving eventscomprising at least one of a vehicle acceleration event, a vehiclebraking event, a vehicle cornering event, a vehicle orientation eventand a vehicle swerving event.
 11. A mobile telecommunications deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the mobile telecommunications devicecomprises an event detector, configured to detect the occurrence of apredetermined driving event using an event indication model provided inthe mobile telecommunications device.
 12. A mobile telecommunicationsdevice according to claim 11, wherein the event indication modelcomprises a pattern of predetermined data values and the event detectoris configured to detect the occurrence of an event by carrying outpattern recognition by matching sensor data values to the pattern ofpredetermined data values of the event indication model.
 13. A mobiletelecommunications device of claim 1, wherein the mobiletelecommunications device is configured to have a training period duringwhich sensor data from the device's sensor set is used to determine abenchmark for a particular driver and to use the benchmark during thedriving period.
 14. A mobile telecommunications device of claim 13,wherein the mobile telecommunications device comprises an eventdetector, configured to detect the occurrence of a predetermined drivingevent using an event indication model provided in the mobiletelecommunications device and wherein mobile telecommunications deviceis configured to modify the event indication model in response todetermining the benchmark.
 15. The mobile telecommunications device ofclaim 1, wherein the mobile telecommunications device is configured tocontrol the mobile device to selectively disable functions of the mobiletelecommunications device during the driving period in dependence on thedriving information.
 16. The mobile telecommunications device of claim15, wherein the mobile telecommunications device is configured tocontrol the mobile device to selectively disable and/or divert incomingvoice calls during the driving period.
 17. The mobile telecommunicationsdevice of claim 1, wherein the mobile telecommunications devicecomprises a wireless telecommunications module operable to download acontrolling application and the processor is configurable by thecontrolling application.
 18. A data-logging system for logging drivinginformation comprising: a database for storing a plurality of accounts,each account having a unique identifier and the database being arrangedto store driving information associated with at least one of a vehicleand a driver; a communications interface arranged to communicate with aremote mobile telecommunications device in combination with an adapteraccording to claim 1, and receive therefrom: a unique identifier forassociation of the mobile device with a corresponding one of theplurality of accounts; and driving information to be logged to thatcorresponding account.
 19. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumhaving instructions comprising a software application stored thereon,wherein the instructions are configured to be executed on a processor ofa mobile telecommunications device to enable the mobiletelecommunications device to log driving information associated with adriver of a vehicle, the mobile telecommunications device including asensor set comprising at least one of an image sensor, an audio sensor,an accelerometer and a positioning module, or a combination thereof; aprocessor; and a memory; the mobile telecommunications device beingconfigured to: determine, based at least in part on sensor data from thedevice's sensor set, a start of a driving period during which the mobiledevice is present in the vehicle and the vehicle is in use, process thesensor data from the sensor set during the driving period to derivedriving information associated with how the vehicle is driven, mobiletelecommunications device being configured to process the sensor dataautomatically, using a neural network provided in the mobile device, todetermine whether the driving information represents an acceptable orunacceptable driving pattern; and store at least some of the drivinginformation to the memory.
 20. A method of using a mobiletelecommunications device configured to log driving informationassociated with a vehicle, the mobile telecommunications devicecomprising: a sensor set comprising at least one of an image sensor, anaudio sensor, an accelerometer and a positioning module, or acombination thereof; a processor including a neural network; and amemory; the method comprising the steps of: determining, based at leastin part on sensor data from the device's sensor set, a start of adriving period during which the mobile device is present in the vehicleand the vehicle is in use, processing the sensor data from the sensorset during the driving period to derive driving information associatedwith how the vehicle is driven, the processing step processing thesensor data automatically, using the neural network provided in themobile device, to determine whether the driving information representsan acceptable or unacceptable driving pattern; and storing at least someof the driving information to the memory.
 21. A mobiletelecommunications device configured to process driving informationassociated with a vehicle, the mobile telecommunications devicecomprising: a sensor set comprising at least one of an image sensor, anaudio sensor, an accelerometer and a positioning module, or acombination thereof; and a processor, the processor being configurableas a neural network; the mobile telecommunications device beingconfigured to process sensor data from the sensor set during a drivingperiod, during which the mobile device is present in the vehicle and thevehicle is in use, to derive driving information associated with how thevehicle is driven, the mobile telecommunications device being configuredto process the sensor data automatically, using the neural network, todetermine whether the driving information represents an acceptable orunacceptable driving pattern.
 22. The mobile telecommunications deviceof claim 21, wherein the mobile telecommunications device is configuredto determine, based at least in part on the sensor data from thedevice's sensor set, a start of the driving period.
 23. A mobiletelecommunications device of claim 22, further comprising a userinterface and wherein the mobile telecommunications device is configuredto determine, based at least in part on the inputs received by the userinterface, the start of the driving period.
 24. The mobiletelecommunications device of claim 21, wherein the mobiletelecommunications device is configured to detect the occurrence of apredetermined event and in response to take at least one predeterminedaction.
 25. The mobile telecommunications device of claim 21, whereinthe mobile telecommunications device is configured to control the mobiledevice to selectively disable functions of the mobile telecommunicationsdevice during the driving period in dependence on the drivinginformation.
 26. The mobile telecommunications device of claim 25,wherein the mobile telecommunications device is configured to controlthe mobile device to selectively disable and/or divert incoming voicecalls during the driving period.
 27. The mobile telecommunicationsdevice of claim 21, wherein the mobile telecommunications devicecomprises a wireless telecommunications module operable to download acontrolling application and the processor is configurable by thecontrolling application.